EPL

How bosses have fared after arriving in Premier League from Scottish Premiership

By Sports Desk June 06, 2023

Ange Postecoglou has swapped Celtic for Tottenham as the north London club’s permanent successor to former head coach Antonio Conte.

Here, the PA news agency looks at the most recent managers to move from the Scottish to the English top flight, and how they fared.

Steven Gerrard

The former Liverpool and England captain took over at Rangers in 2018, finishing second behind Celtic in his first two seasons – and also losing the 2020 League Cup final to them – before breaking through to win the 2020-21 Premiership in an unbeaten season to deny Celtic a 10th title in a row.

He was appointed at Aston Villa early the following season, with a reported £4million compensation payment to Rangers, but was unable to improve Villa’s results.

They finished 14th that season and he was sacked after a poor start to 2022-23, with Unai Emery taking over and leading Villa into Europe. Meanwhile, north of the border, Postecoglou had taken over Celtic and re-established their dominance.

Gerrard managed 13 wins in 40 games as Villa boss, a 32.5 per cent win rate.

Paul Heckingbottom

Heckingbottom left Hibernian in November 2019 and, having been out of work for much of the season, became Sheffield United Under-23 coach in July 2020.

He took over as interim manager after Chris Wilder was sacked in March 2021 but won only three of 11 games as the club’s relegation was confirmed.

Having lost out on the permanent job to Slavisa Jokanovic, he took over six months later after the Serbian’s dismissal and has led the Blades back to the top flight for the new season, winning 48 of 83 games in his current reign.

Brendan Rodgers

Rodgers was already an established name in England after spells at Reading and Liverpool, but it was at Celtic where he built his medal collection with back-to-back domestic trebles – adding the League Cup leg of a third before departing for Leicester in February 2019 and leaving Neil Lennon to finish the job.

With the Foxes he won the FA Cup in 2020-21 and reached the Europa League semi-final the following season, with league finishes of ninth, fifth, fifth and eighth as they twice missed out on the Champions League on the final day.

He was sacked in April with the club 19th in the league, with successor Dean Smith unable to save them from relegation. Rodgers won 92 of 204 Leicester games in all competitions, 45.1 per cent.

Alex McLeish

McLeish’s spell with Rangers brought him two league titles, two Scottish Cups and three League Cups, including a treble in 2002-03, following a second-placed finish with Motherwell and a promotion with Hibernian.

That earned him the Scotland job but he led them for only 12 games before returning to club management south of the border with Birmingham.

Blues were relegated in his first season in charge but bounced straight back, finished ninth in 2009-10 and won the 2011 League Cup after Obafemi Martins’ late winner against Arsenal.

That same season brought a second relegation, though, and McLeish resigned after 168 games in charge with a 36.9 per cent win rate.

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    Ozwayne Miller (20th, 28th) and Roshane Lewis (60th, 64th), both had a brace for Maggotty, with Robinho Barrett (17th), Jeraine Robinson (51st), Chadrick Jackson (66th) and Daniel Martin (75th), also getting in on the act, as Roger Clarke were like lambs to the slaughter in the curtain-raiser.

    The much-anticipated St Elizabeth derby feature contest, though not short on entertainment, did not serve up as much goals as D’andre Hibbert (35th) of STETHS and Munro’s captain Daniel Bowen (37th), ensured their teams a share of the spoils.

    Despite the draw, STETHS remain at the summit of the zone on 10 points, one ahead of BB Coke (nine points), with Munro College inching up to eight points in third. Maggotty with their first win of the season, moved up to fifth on four points.

    It was one-way traffic in favour of Maggotty High in the opening encounter which was reduced to 80 minutes following a lengthy delay caused by lightning.

    Barrett opened the scoring with a neat finish, beating Raquan Powell in goal for Roger Clarke, at his near post.

    Poor defending by Roger Clarke then allowed Miller to double the lead, as he latched on to, and tucked away a rebound.

    Miller was again on target eight minutes later when he got in behind defenders and calmly slotted a left-footed effort beyond Powell, for his second on the day and third of the season.

    Though up 3-0 at the break, Maggotty High were in no mood to let up and extended their lead six minutes into the resumption when Powell left his lines but failed to clear the ball properly. Robinson, who was on hand, capitalised as he fired the loose ball into an empty net.

    On the hour-mark, Lewis went on the break down the right channel where he had time and space to dart into the 18-yard box and pick a spot to fire past the hapless Powell.

    Lewis then grabbed his second and his team’s sixth, as he outpaced and outmuscled a defender before firing past the slightly advanced Powell in the 64th.

    Jackson added his name to the scoresheet two minutes later. He picked up a pass from Lewis inside the 18-yard box and finished with aplomb.

    And Martin applied the finishing touches to the rout when her converted from the penalty spot after Donte Blake, handled ball inside the danger area.

    The feature contest lived up to billing for the most parts, as both STETHS and Munro were evenly poised throughout and nullified each other at both ends of the park.

    It was STETHS that drew first blood when Hibbert applied a thumping right-footed finish to a pass from Ajay Smith. That was his fourth of the season.

    However, their celebrations were short-lived as Munro replied soon after Roshane Wint headed on a ball for Bowen, who executed a sublime acrobatic finish on the volley, that gave Donte Campbell, in goal for STETHS, no chance at a save.

    From there, both teams created their fair share of chances, particularly in the second half, but were unable to make them count.

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    Merlene Ottey 0, Green Island 1

    Rusea’s High 1, Frome Tech 0

    Discovery Bay High 0, York Castle 10

    William Knibb Memorial 3, Cedric Titus 0

    Aabuthnott Gallimore 2, Ferncourt High 5

    Knockalva Technical 3, Black River High 1

    Mannings School 3, Grange Hill High 0

    Newell High 1, Lacovia High 3

    Maggotty High 8, Roger Clarke 0

    STETHS 1, Munro College 1

    Manchester High 6, Mt St Joseph Catholic 0

    deCarteret College 8, Cross Keys 0

    Central High 16, Porus High 0

    Vere Tech 2, Foga Road 1

    Kemps Hill 1, Garvey Maceo High 1

    May Day High vs Belair High (called off due to waterlogged field)

    Lennon High vs Edwin Allen (called off due to lightning)

    Clarendon College vs Thompson Town (called off due to lightning)

    Carron Hall High vs St Mary High (rained out)

    Wycliffe Martin High vs Horace Clarke (rained out)

    Ocho Rios High vs Brown’s Town (rained out)

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    Elsewhere, Mona High got their fourth win in as many games in Group E with a 2-1 win over St. Catherine High.

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    The 35-year-old made his first start for the club since 2015 and, as well as helping secure a much-needed clean sheet, set up Bruno Fernandes for the only goal after having an earlier header ruled out.

    Evans re-signed for the club earlier this month following his release by Leicester, and boss Ten Hag said: “We have problems and in this moment a lot is against us: injuries, decisions and we have all seen the examples.

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    “In the summer, I heard he was in to train with the under-23s, I said ‘Fletch (technical director Darren Fletcher), come bring him in with the first team. Maybe he can help us’.

    “I already saw in pre-season with the schedule, the problems with the numbers in the squad. We decided to sign him because I think he can really contribute to the squad and today you have seen how massively important he can be.”

    Fernandes’ first-time volley from Evans’ ball over the top was a moment of real quality in a game where Ten Hag knew United could not afford another slip-up after three losses in a row.

    “This was a must-win and we knew that,” said the Dutchman, who had no complaints about the disallowed goal with Rasmus Hojland deemed to be offside and interfering in front of goalkeeper James Trafford.

    “The team responded on the pitch. You could see the togetherness in the dressing room. It was a squad performance.”

    Burnley are still looking for their first win following promotion back to the Premier League and have picked up only one point from their first five games.

    But manager Vincent Kompany was pleased with the performance of his side, who hit the post in the first half through Zeki Amdouni and had several other good opportunities.

    “We had two or three massive chances, really big,” said the Clarets’ boss. “The one from Jay Rod (Rodriguez) where he is controlling the ball in front of the keeper and then slices it, the one from (Jacob) Bruun Larsen, one-on-one with the keeper, just takes his touch a little bit too far.

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    “I am a rational mind, I thought 14 new players, and you see City, United, Chelsea, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Tottenham all within the first 10 games and you know this might be a difficult start but, if I look at the performance today, our moment will come.”

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